New Paper on Resource Conflict Prevention References Community Protocols

A new paper by the Quaker United Nations Office entitled "Building peace around water, land and food: Policy and practice for preventing conflict" highlights the fundamental importance of securing natural resources on which our survival and well-being depend in the face of climate change and increasing conflict and competition over resources. It also focuses on the need to strengthen peace-building skills among actors at all levels (including effective communication and engagement with decision-making processes and constructive dispute prevention and resolution) and cites relevant international instruments that can help prevent conflict through inclusive natural resource governance and management.

One of the case studies explored the development and use of a biocultural community protocol to negotiate community resource rights in the Potato Park in Peru. The paper also references Natural Justice's Biocultural Community Protocols: A toolkit for community facilitators and the 2012 special edition of the Participatory Learning and Action Journal on community protocols, rights and consent, which was co-edited by Natural Justice, among others (also available in Spanish). Please download and share this new paper here.

2013 Global Environments Summer Academy (GESA)

In early August, Natural Justice participated in the 2013 Global Environments Summer Academy (GESA) on socio-ecological interactions that brought together eighteen young environmental change-makers from around the world and from a myriad of sectors, professions and disciplines. Most participants have extensive experience in working with indigenous and local communities.

Marie Wilke from Natural Justice and a GESA alumni lead a three-day workshop on “Law, Policy & Advocacy”. The aim of the course was to equip the participants with the tools needed to proactively engage with international, regional and domestic law-making and shaping processes. Through interactive group work, case studies and moot courts the course aimed at making law available to non-lawyers and to introduce useful approaches for engaging in legislative and adjudicative processes.

During the first day the participants produced small universes of international law by ordering different international organizations, laws, courts and actors that they were familiar with according to themes, legal subjects and hierarchies.

These systems informed the group work on day two, when the participants developed legal strategies for three fictional indigenous and local communities that were confronted with challenging policy changes such as large-scale infrastructure projects, prohibitions of customary practices for conservation and animal welfare reasons, and land right reforms and competing land claims. Some groups opted for court action in the light of recent jurisprudential developments, in particular in regional human right courts, while others preferred negotiated settlements. Importantly, using Natural Justice’s Toolkit, all groups found that bio-cultural community protocols were useful tools for jointly developing legal strategies with the communities. 

On day three the GESA participants argued a fictional case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The Moot Court case developed by the International Law Student Association (ILSA) concerned a small island nation that lost it’s homeland due to rising sea levels and that now struggles to find a new land and appropriate shelter for it’s climate refugees. The participants developed important legal arguments on the status of climate refugees, the collective responsibility for climate change, and on responsible developing lending. The diverse backgrounds of the participants were definitely of great help as all suggested approaches were informed by the perspectives of non-lawyers.

In a final discussion the participants agreed that international law yields many (unforeseen) opportunities for disadvantaged groups and that there is ample space for engagement, but that the biggest challenge remains the inaccessibility of law for non-lawyers.

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Latest Natural Justice E-module: Introduction to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights System

Natural Justice has developed a draft e-learning module introducing the UN Human Rights System to support communities and practitioners in increasing understanding of key international human rights legal frameworks.  This e-learning module supplements existing e-learning modules and the "BCP: A Toolkit for Community Facilitiators".

The module seeks to provide an insight into:

• The United Nations;
• Human rights generally (including the International Bill of Rights and core human rights treaties non-derogable rights and permissible restrictions on rights);
• The implementation and monitoring of human rights standards (including charter-and treaty-based mechanisms); and,
• Key human rights institutions and enforcement mechanisms for Indigenous Peoples.

It is targeted at communities and anyone who is interested in an introduction to the UN human rights system.

The module can be downloaded here.  The document is not final, and any comments can be directed to Holly Shrumm (holly (at) naturaljustice.org) and Harry Jonas (harry (at) naturaljustice.org).

E-Module on ABS for Communities

Natural Justice has developed a draft e-module that aims to provide an introduction to access and benefit sharing (ABS) and its implications for Indigenous peoples and local communities. It explores the implications of a range of rights and responsibilities and how communities may be able to realize them in practice. Natural Justice is developing a number of e-learning modules to support communities developing biocultural community protocols (BCPs) to increase their understanding of key international legal frameworks, concepts and programmes. 

Throughout history, Indigenous peoples and local communities have used traditional knowledge and biological resources to cure sicknesses, provide nourishment, and fulfill everyday livelihood needs. More recently, many people have benefitted from the use of some of this knowledge and biodiversity to develop pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, crop varieties and livestock breeds, and other products for personal use. However, the communities that have nurtured the genetic diversity over thousands of years of cultivation and wild use often have not benefitted from these developments. Frequently, they are not involved in the research and development process, receive little to no compensation for their knowledge or resources, and have no access to the final products. 

UNDRIP E-Module for Communities

Natural Justice has developed a number of draft e-learning modules to support communities developing biocultural community protocols (BCPs) to increase their understanding of key international legal frameworks, concepts and programmes. These modules supplement ‘BCPs: A Toolkit for Community Facilitators’. 

The module on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) seeks to provide insight into UNDRIP’s provisions and how they can be applied by communities worldwide It is targeted at communities who identify as Indigenous Peoples, who have a close relationship with a territory or resource, who have historically faced issues regarding that territory or resource, and/or have an interest in asserting any of the rights set out in UNDRIP. 

With approximately 370 million Indigenous Peoples spread across 70 countries worldwide who have historically been marginalised, the process of drafting UNDRIP began in 1985. It was adopted in 2007. While the Declaration elaborates a fairly comprehensive set of individual and community rights for Indigenous Peoples, its impact remains limited as it is not binding and has limited time to achieve changes. The module seeks to support communities to find relevant rights and to begin making these protections material. 

The module can be downloaded here. The BCP Toolkit can be downloaded here. The documents are not final and any comments can be directed to Holly Shrumm (holly (at) naturaljustice.org) and Harry Jonas (harry (at) naturaljustice.org).

African BCP Initiative Meeting - Nairobi

Building on its earlier meeting held in December 2011, African BCP Initiative Kenyan partners met in Nairobi to discuss the experiences of members in developing and implementing BCPs. Member organizations including Natural Justice, ETC Compas, the Center for Indigenous Knowledge and Organizational Development (CIKOD), Mainyoito Pastoralists Integrated Development Organization, Save Lamu, Kivulini, Ogiek Peoples Development Programme and Life Network provided updates on the status of their BCPs. They shared valuable information regarding lessons learned during development and implementation of BCPs, and discussed some of the challenges they faced in the process. 

Natural Justice contributed insights on dealing with some of these challenges, and introduced the Biocultural Community Protocols Toolkit, which sets forth tools for community facilitators to support communities in the BCP process. The Toolkit is now available for member comments, with a final version scheduled to be published by the end of 2012. An electronic version is available here. Finally, ETC Compas facilitated a discussion on the relationship between BCPs and multistakeholder partnerships, and addressed the next steps to be taken by the African BCP Initiative. All African partners of the BCP Initiative will be attending a final meeting and planning session in Ghana in June.

Biocultural Community Protocols Toolkit for Community Facilitators

Natural Justice has just released the first version of "Biocultural Community Protocols: A Toolkit for Community Facilitators". Developed through the Regional Initiatives on Biocultural Community Protocols and with guidance and input from other key partners around the world, the Toolkit is comprised of four parts:

• Part I: Understanding and Using the Toolkit
• Part II: Documenting and Developing a Biocultural Community Protocol
• Part III: Using a Biocultural Community Protocol
• Part IV: Reflecting, Reporting, and Revising

It is intended primarily for use by Indigenous peoples and local communities with support from long-standing and trusted organizations, where appropriate. The Toolkit is available for download in one document or in smaller components on the dedicated community protocols website, along with a number of additional resources such as e-learning modules on key legal frameworks, publications, and films.

We welcome feedback and suggestions regarding any of the materials ahead of developing a second version of the Toolkit later in 2012. Please contact Holly Shrumm at holly (at) naturaljustice.org with any questions or inputs.